AMD Renoir-X Ryzen 4000 CPU Specs Leak As Entry-Level Showdown With Intel Looms
AMD's current desktop processors with graphics are the Ryzen 5000G series, codenamed Cezanne. Those chips pair powerful Zen 3 CPU cores with aged-but-still-potent Vega graphics, and make a solid foundation for a system that can serve almost any desktop use-case, including casual gaming—as long as you don't expect too much from the iGPU.
If you check retail listings, you'll find the Ryzen 7 5700G and the Ryzen 5 5600G, but a Ryzen 3 chip is nowhere to be found. (There is a Ryzen 3 5300G, but it's OEM-only.) That's the case if you look at AMD's no-graphics-included CPUs, too. The Ryzen 5000-series processors were released more than a year ago at the end of 2020, and this whole time there have only been mid-range, high-end, and enthusiast-level products available.
At CES 2022, Intel announced a full range of desktop and laptop CPUs based on its Alder Lake CPU design. Naturally, that includes Core i3, Pentium, and Celeron CPUs, as well as the H-series and B-series chipsets to go along with them. These inexpensive Intel chips and bargain boards make a very attractive combination for folks seeking to build a new PC with the latest architectures but without the dosh to dole out for a righteous rig.
As it stands, AMD really doesn't have anything to respond with in the low end market. However, if a recent rumor from frequent Chinese leakster Enthusiastic Citizens is accurate, the company might be cooking up some sort of a response. Posting on Bilibili—which is sort of like a Chinese YouTube, for those unfamiliar—Mr. Citizens lays out the specifications for three of the supposed "Renoir-X" CPUs that are reportedly on the way.
To translate, Enthusiastic Citizens is claiming that we'll see a Ryzen 7 4700, a Ryzen 5 4600, and a Ryzen 3 4300 soon. The Ryzen 7 chip will have the full complement of eight cores and 8MB of L3 cache, while the Ryzen 5 model will drop two cores, but otherwise be unchanged. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 3 4300 will lose a further two cores as well as half of its L3 cache, but might come with a slightly higher base clock. These chips will purportedly be pared down from AMD's Renoir silicon to create "Renoir-X".
Enthusiastic Citizens notes that the model numbers in his information are just his own guesses, but that the specifications should be correct. In another post, he also specifies the TDP of these processors at 65W, which is typical for AMD's mainstream desktop CPUs. When asked by another Bilibili poster what exactly the point of these releases would be at this late stage, Mr. Citizens replies that they'll be cheap and that they'll clear out old silicon inventory that AMD's been holding onto.
Being that Renoir's CPU cores are from the older Zen 2 generation, rather than Zen 3, we find it hard to believe these parts will be compelling purchases compared even to AMD's own Ryzen 3000 processors, to say nothing of Intel's lower-end Alder Lake models. (There is a certain irony to enjoy in that a "4000" processor might be cheaper than a "3000" processor.) Still, as the old saying goes, "there are no bad products, just bad prices."
There are a lot of older Socket AM4 motherboards and OEM machines floating around out there, and these chips should snap into almost any Socket AM4 motherboard in existence, assuming they come to market. Priced properly, a Renoir-X CPU could be a cheap path to a relatively modern CPU for folks still stuck on older Core i- processors or AMD Phenom or FX systems.
